Another year around the sun, another Laneway Festival loaded with unforgettable moments we’ll be recycling until the next one rolls around. The 2017 edition saw another leading lineup take on 7 shows across 3 countries – quite a far cry from the festival’s humble beginnings 13 years ago. The Sydney leg of the tour started out with some choppy weather, which soon gave way to blue skies and sweltering heat. Rain or shine though, the weather wasn’t going to stop punters taking the day by storm.
First up on the main stage was Melbourne three-piece Camp Cope, setting the tone with some high-energy noise and 0% tolerance for rowdy hecklers. Next we moved over to Spinning Top for the always incredible/ completely hilarious Koi Child to take in our fill of that jazzy Hip Hop. This was shortly followed by the infectious NAO, who is all but the name to watch right now. The long awaited Whitney took to the stage afterwards, their gorgeous brand of country soul drawing an enormous crowd who were all too keen to experience the Chicagoans. All-time favourite Nicholas Allbrook wasted no time in jump-starting things – by jumping straight into the crowd that is. Legends Dune Rats on filler duties for an absent Young Thug came to the party and then some, with every single person chanting every lyric to every song that they belted out. Then, in stark contrast to the Dunies, the incredible Mick Jenkins took the the Future Classic stage and pelted us with some seamless lyrical finesse. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard followed back on the main stage – a consistent crowd pleaser and a sure mosh riot, they slay every time. Seattle native Car Seat Headrest followed up his sold out Sydney sideshow with a choice set at the Spinning Top stage, with Tash Sultana then rounding out a massive crowd as the sun sat over hill, lighting up the late afternoon. A.B. Original brought a resounding “fuck you” to their stand-out spot, and Glass Animals sowed some contagious fervour around with their star stage presence as the sun started to set. Mr. Carmack was next over at Future Classic, and things got weird when the crowd overran the barrier and started dancing in the photo pit and on top of speakers, even the stage – a testament to his music and infectious style. Grammy winner Tourist shortly followed with some face-melting tunes, and then it was a quick rush back to the main stage for the one and only Tame Impala, who sprayed the crowd with confetti and delivered a truly memorable live set. Wrapping up our Laneway experience was local psych-electronic guys Jagwar Ma, who brought a hypnotic end to an enormous day of amazing live music.
We managed to capture some of the vibes that went down. Peep the shots below.
Check out Part I here, feat. Whitney, Dune Rats, Nic Allbrook & more!
Read our Laneway 2017 review!Tash Sultana
A.B. Original (with Hauie Beast)
Glass Animals
Mr. Carmack
Tourist
Tame Impala
Jagwar Ma
Photos: Dani Hansen/Howl & Echoes
This time last year we were filled to the brim with excitement over the release of Tame Impala’s highly-anticipated Currents, a record that stunned listeners on impact and was replayed over and over again as fans engulfed themselves in the magic that was embodied in its 13 tracks.
Now, Tame Impala are finally ready to release the deluxe edition of the album, along with an added B-side. In celebration of the one year anniversary of Currents, the band posted a picture of the album’s cover art with the following caption:
Just how much unheard music from Tame Impala will be included in the deluxe edition remains to be seen, but with the quality of the finished product of Currents at such a high level, you can probably be sure that even the off-cuts and B-sides that didn’t end up making the original record will still be some outstanding music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFptt7Cargc
Following the release of Currents, Tame Impala absolutely rocketed to the top spot on the Australian charts and cleaned up at the ARIA awards as a result. They took out five awards in total including Album of the Year, Best Rock Album, Engineer of the Year, Producer of the Year and Best Group as well as Let It Happen being nominated for Best Pop Release.
It was recorded in Kevin Parker’s home studio and was the first Tame Impala album to be mixed by Parker himself, who had also written, recorded and produced their previous two albums along with Currents. We’ll keep you updated on any further details, including a release date, as they emerge.
Image: Pagesdigital
Last Monday night, Tame Impala performed at Les Nuits de Fourvière, a festival in France. The show took place at the Théâtres Romains de Fourvière in Lyon, where they performed in support of their wonderful 2015 album Currents. They rocked the venue, as seems to be the usual for them these days. But towards the end of the show, during their performance of Apocalypse Dreams, something a little weird happened.
Okay maybe not that weird for them. (Source: YouTube)
The crowd started to throw cushions. On to the stage. Little green pillows showered the band, bouncing on equipment and artist alike. The missiles were originally handed out by the venue for the audience to sit on, but it has become a tradition for the concert goers to pelt the stage with pillows if they enjoyed the gig.
Tame Impala posted a video of the incident below on their Instagram account. They also posted a picture of the mound of cushions surrounding the band’s keyboard, with the caption “Crowd standin there all guilty like a puppy sittin next to a pile of poo.” I love Tame Impala.
It’s heartening to see such acts of weird expression, especially when the projected feeling is one of love. Massive props to the festival for cultivating such a delightfully oddball tradition!
Get showered in cushions by 4000 french people ✔️
Crowd standin there all guilty like a puppy dog sittin next to a pile of poo
A photo posted by Tame Impala (@tame__impala) on
Image: New Web
Gearing up for the release of her new album, The Dreaming Room, Laura Mvula joined the BBC 1 Academy’s Live Lounge to perform new single Phenomenal Woman. She also found the time for a cover of Tame Impala’s New Person, Same Old Mistakes from the band’s latest album.
Without tampering too much with the original arrangement, Mvula definitely brings her own spin to the track. Changing out the synth melody for a sitar like instrumentation, a throbbing bass line and sparse beats feel like vintage Fugees tracks – especially coupled with a female chorus chant and Mvula’s gorgeous vocals, with just a touch of grit. Her version has less of Tame Impala’s dreamy electronica, touching more on hip-hop and with a delicious aggression, building to a menacing, emotionally charged finale.
Performing her latest release, Phenomenal Woman strikes out a similarly brooding note before launching into a kind of dark disco. Funk inspired and bass heavy, quick moving chorus and Mvula stretching her vocals out to a real diva attitude. Not to mention a breakdown that has all the glitz of Bicycle Race era Queen. There’s no doubting that Mvula has picked up the pace since her gorgeous 2013 release, Sing To The Moon, with it’s old world inspired cinematic sounds.
A cover of Tame Impala’s New Person, Same Old Mistakes also appeared on Rihanna’s album ANTI. Her version received the band’s approval, and I can’t imagine that Laura Mvula’s cover will meet with a different response from Kevin Parker and co. You can listen to both performances below.
Image: The Fader
Fresh from the success of his APRA Award win for Song of the Year, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker has kept the good news coming.
While the band are still touring their critically acclaimed third record Currents until September, Parker is already making new music.
“I’ve got my own recording studio in Perth, just down the road from where I live, so there are all sorts of things going on,” he told AAP at the awards show where his song Let It Happen scooped the big prize.
“I think after a long tour and after an album, your brain feels like it wants to relax. But at the same time making music for me is something that comes kind of naturally, just like a brain process,” he added.
Parker admitted the process was still in its early stages, and he’s unsure about where the new music will end up. “I don’t really know what it is until it’s finished. Like I don’t know if it’s for Tame Impala or if it’s something I’m going to write for someone else, because I’ve been wanting to do that a lot more.”
Hot on the heels of his music making and award wins, which includes a recent Brit Award for Best International Group, Parker has also been busy at work as a producer. He worked alongside fellow Perth locals Koi Child on their debut self-titled studio record, which was released last month.
“He’s amazing. Kevin did all of this as if it was nothing,” frontman Shannon Patterson revealed in a recent interview.
“He brought a lot of assurance to the table. There were a lot of times during the album where we weren’t really sure about certain sections and Kev would help us with stuff like that. He’d do a lot of cutting the fat…Most of the set-up was his. Especially his drum sound. It was fascinating for us to see how he set the drums up – his process of recording us,” Patterson said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFptt7Cargc
Image: Pitchfork
Tame Impala have their fair share of awesome video clips, and particularly so when it comes to their latest album, Currents. From the sexual-angst-filled, gorilla featuring The Less I Know The Better to the startling visuals for Let It Happen, the 3D acid trip of Cause I’m A Man or even that time they performed as Muppets, it’s safe to say Tame are working with some video extraordinaires- that may have just been given a run for their money.
Surfacing online this week, it appears someone wasn’t quite content with the visual output of Tame Impala. In fact, they were mostly concerned with the lack of visual output for one song in particular: Nangs. Now, not everyone has full film sets at their disposal so this guy did what he could with what he had on hand. A lot of stock footage.
Filmmaker Ben Aston has made hands down the weirdest clip you’ll see this week/month/maybe even year with his version of Nangs. Using stock footage of “business people” dancing, fighting, kicking back in a field and one weird clip of a naked guy in a bathroom, Aston has taken it upon himself to make this weird as fuck clip, and we have to thank him for it because although strange, it’s also pretty great. Take a look for yourself:
Image: Pedestrian TV
What’s a remix among bandmates? Tame Impala‘s mastermind Kevin Parker has showed he isn’t slowing down any time soon since releasing one of the best albums of the year last year in the form of Currents, and has now offered up a space-age remix of his bandmate, GUM (aka Jay Watson), and his track Anesthetized Lesson.
The track was the lead single off GUM’s own 2015 album, Glamorous Damage, and was one of the grooviest songs of the year, in this writer’s opinion at least. Seductive vocals, retro-futuristic synths and a bass that makes you weak at the knees, this track was indicative of GUM really hitting his stride as a solo artist, so it only makes sense that his pal Kev would step up for remix duties.
In a statement accompanying the track, Watson said, “While I was recording the album I was listening to a lot of dance music and while it was a big influence, my mixing of the album didn’t really reflect that.”
“When Kev offered to do a remix of Anesthetized Lesson, I jumped at the chance because I knew he could make it sound wild. He didn’t let me down!”
No he did not. With some muffled vocals and some heavy reverb, Parker has taken Anesthetized Lesson away from the heaving disco dancefloor and given it a kaleidoscopic, dreamy, end-of-night feel, dripping in psychedelia. The perfect song to wind down to after busting a move to that of GUM’s Glamorous Damage. Check out the song for yourself below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k_-Sj-5IAM
Image: Pitchfork
Just last week, Miguel announced that an entire EP of reworks of his track, waves, was on the way. Quickly following that, he shared second cab off the rank- a remix by Tame Impala (he performed the Travi$ Scott version on Ellen last week as well). Now, keeping up the pace, he has shared an accompanying video for that remix which features both Miguel and Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. #Efficient
What’s also efficient is the turn around for this clip, as it was also last week that Miguel tweeted this photo that put the internet in a frenzy with a severe case of FOMO and wanting desperately to be in between the two men.
Be still, my beating heart…
The clip itself is a winner. Set on a beach with some miserable, dreary weather, the two don’t seem to mind too much about being rained on in this clip. Slouched in chairs as the waves wash over their feet, dancing on the sand and running around, they don’t actually seem to notice at all. Add to that the trippy effects employed when Kevin’s psychedelic tendencies really break through, and you’ll find the only complaint here is that it is over before you know it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUndjuAWNlc
The remix EP, titled Rogue Waves, is out now.
Image: Consequence of Sound
This week, we reported that Miguel’s 2015 track Waves was to be the subject of a new little remix project, featuring reworkings by RAC, Tame Impala and more, including the Travis Scott version already released.
Well, they’ve pretty much all been released now, and our favourite is undoubtedly that from Tame Impala. It’s exactly what you may expect from a collaboration between the pair. Hazy, laid back, and so seductive.
Listen here, as premiered on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 Radio:
The rhythm is an easy ride, while the echoed vocal parts adds splashes of psychedelia into the mix. Thoroughly enjoyable and a uniquely gorgeous blend of the two completely distinct styles, we can only hope that the artists will work together again in future. Keep an eye out for a video to accompany the track – Miguel posted this image of himself filming with Kevin Parker earlier this week.
Below, listen to the remix from RAC and, a stripped back, acoustic version known as the “Joshua Tree Version.”
Rogue Waves Track List
01 Waves (Tame Impala Remix)
02 Waves (Joshua Tree Version)
03 Waves (RAC Remix)
04 Waves [ft. Kacey Musgraves]
05 Waves [ft. Travis Scott]
Image: Instagram